Alameda: Local author launches latest psychological thriller

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Beth Zygielbaum, of Alameda, left, speaks with author Holly Brown during a book launch and signing event at Books Inc. in Alameda on Jan. 17. “This Is Not Over,” is the latest psychological thriller by Brown. (Janet Levaux/For Bay Area News Group)

ALAMEDA — Holly Brown has mastered two careers and weaves them into her psychological thrillers, including the latest — “This Is Not Over” — which she discussed at a Books Inc. event on Jan. 17.

With therapy, “I am immersed in other people’s stories, and I see how some people turn their lives into stories,” Brown said. “Of course, I do not pull anything from these lives into my books, but I am shaped by them.”

In her latest novel, the Alameda-based therapist, wife and mother highlights the conflicting worlds of a young woman living in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, Dawn, and a middle-aged homemaker, Miranda, who divides her time between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.

“What readers say they like about my novels is the tension, which I ratchet up until there is a head-on collision,” Brown said.

The author devotes alternating chapters of “This Is Not Over” to its two main characters. She also incorporates their e-mail, text and other communications.

“This makes you think about why they are inflaming each other’s emotions so much,” she explained.

“People hide secrets or chose to live as others think they should at times,” the therapist said about her characters. “They don’t want to show their imperfections.”

Brown grew up in the Philadelphia area and has been living in the Bay Area for about 15 years. She has been working with publisher William Morrow, part of HarperCollins, since the firm published her debut novel about a runaway teen, “Don’t Try to Find Me,” in 2014.

The author said one of her upcoming books is set in a fictionalized version of Alameda.

“It has a big cast of characters living in a neighborhood,” she said.

Readers are positive about her novels.

“There’s always a twist. You thought you knew where things are going and then — wham,” said Melinda Walters, who lives in the Lake Merritt district of Oakland. “I’ve read all of her books. You start reading them, and you don’t want to leave. They are awesome.”

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